Slipped Away
by mystery8icarus
Summary: Ven reminisces about the events that occurred when his cousin died. Partly inspired by Avril Lavigne's Slipped away. This is dedicated to my cousin, Rafael.


**Slipped Away**

**Ok, I just decided to write this. Why? Well...a month ago to this date my cousin died in a car crash. When I listened to this song today, I could remember 'the day everything changed'. So, Rafa...this one's for you.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom hearts. I also don't own Slipped Away by Avril Lavigne. The video the link leads to is not mine either, I don't have an account on YouTube yet, I just needed a video to show what the song sounds like if you haven't heard it. **

**You can listen to it here: watch?v=T-fz3m20WjQ**

Ventus sighed as he made his way to the cemetery. He still couldn't believe his cousin was just...gone. And already, it had been a month. He could still remember that fateful day. The day...everything changed.

_It was two days after Christmas. Ven had just woken up, and smiled as he came down for breakfast. "Morning everyone!" he greeted to his parents and his twin brother Roxas. "Good morning Ven!" his mother exclaimed, kissing him on the cheek, before handing him some pancakes._

"_Eat up, it's another big day!" she said as she quickly left to serve their visiting aunt, Aqua, some breakfast as she came down. Ven soon finished his breakfast. "Hey, I gotta go get dressed, kay?" he asked as he went back upstairs. 'Kay!" his brother shouted._

_As he got dressed, he suddenly heard a clatter from downstairs. He put on his shirt and ran downstairs. "What's going on?!" he asked, bewildered. He then gasped. His mother was in tears, while there was china on the floor. His father was hugging her, trying to comfort her._

_His own brother was still, but before Ven knew it he heard sobbing sounds coming from him. He glanced to see Aqua was also crying. "What happened?!" he repeated, anxious to know. His mother looked up, and walked toward him, still crying._

"_Oh Ven...we just got a call. Your cousin Sora...he was killed in a car crash." As she said that, she hugged him as she cried again. Ven stood still, in shock as he recalled his cousin Sora's smiling face. 'Sora?...he's gone?...' he thought before he whispered, "Oh my God...Oh my God!" he kept saying that as he hugged his mother back, crying as well._

Since his cousin's family lived in Texas, they drove down there immediately. When they arrived a day later, they were greeted by Sora's mother.

"_Oh Mary...Mary, he's gone!" she shouted, crying as she hugged his mother. Her cries of despair were enough to bring anyone to tears, and Ven could feel tears of his own well up in his eyes at the mother's loss. It was all he could not to break down crying._

_Later, he met up with his other cousin, Vanitas, who was Sora's older brother. When he noticed Van wasn't crying, he asked him, "Aren't you sad your brother is gone?" Van scowled. "Of course, but isn't it time to stop crying? They've been at it for 3 days now!" he snapped._

_Ven frowned. "But...you do realize after they bury him, you'll never see your brother again? Yes, you can see him in photos and videos and your memories, but you'll never see him laugh and smile in front of you again. Don't you see? They're crying cause soon he'll be truly gone!" he said, crying now. _

_Van was silent, and walked away. But Ven could've sworn he saw tears gather in his golden eyes. _

The next day, he remembered they went to see Sora's body at the funeral home. At first, he had been reluctant to go in, but then he gathered up enough courage to go in and see his cousin one last time. He had honestly thought he'd run away in horror, but...

_He walked up to his cousin's white coffin, and looked in-to see Sora in a white tux, a serene look on his face. However, his eyes were purple and swollen, his chin looked busted, and there was a scar on his forehead. Ven could only look on in dismay and shock. 'Oh my gosh...' he thought as he looked on._

_He stepped out of the way as he realized Sora's father was coming over to see his son. As the man got a glimpse, he cried out in sorrow and pain. "NO! My son! My little Sora! Where is he?! WHERE IS MY SON?!" he cried out, and collapsed, causing two of Ven's uncles to catch him and drag him away to calm down._

_All the while, he kept yelling, "WHERE IS HE?! WHERE'S MY SON?!" and sobbed. Ven could feel tears com up again, and he blinked them away. He turned to look at Sora again. He looked as if he was going to wake up at any moment. 'But he isn't. He'll stay asleep forever.' Ven thought sadly._

_He then placed a hand on his coffin. "Sora, I don't know if you can hear me, but...don't worry. We'll be fine-we won't forget you." Ven said, and bit his lip as tears came up again. He continued. "You'll always be in our hearts. We'll always love you. Be happy." At the last few words, his tears fell, and he wiped them away as he said one final phrase very softly: "Goodbye, dear friend." _

_He walked away, knowing his cousin will be okay._

A few days later, they had the funeral service before they buried him at the very cemetery he was in now.

_As they carried the coffin to the grave, he could only stare. Various family members spoke up to say their last few words about Sora, but he didn't step up. He had already said what he wanted to say to Sora. He had noticed some of his cousins were wearing shirts that had Sora's picture on it, and words that said, 'Sora, we will never forget you.' Then it finally came-the time for Sora to be buried._

_As they lowered the coffin in the hole, Sora's little sister, Namine began to cry. She hugged her mother as she yelled, "MOMMY! HE'S LEAVING! DON'T LET SORA GO AWAY! BRING HIM BACK! I WANT TO SEE HIM AGAIN! I WANT MY BIG BROTHER! I WANT SORA! I WANT TO SEE HIM! I WANT SORA!" she cried hysterically. _

_Her mother could only hug back. "Namine...Sora can't come back." Namine then started to cry even harder. "NO! NONONONONONONO! I WANT SORA! I WANT SORA!" she sobbed. Ven bit his lip as he watched the whole scene. Before they buried him completely, Vanitas grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it on his younger brother's coffin._

_Sora's father did the same, then Ven's own father, then Roxas, and then all the rest of his cousins. Ven couldn't bring himself to do the same, why he wasn't sure. Finally Namine came up, but instead of throwing dirt, she got a rose from a bouquet of flowers and threw it in. "Good bye Sora. I love you." She said, as a tear slid down her cheek._

_At this, most of the women started to cry. Ven then remembered the words to a song he once heard; 'Now you're gone, now you're gone, there you go, there you go, somewhere I can't bring you back. Now you're gone, now you're gone, there you go, there you go, somewhere you're not coming back!'_

_Ven blinked back tears. How true those words were...he watched as the funeral home people buried his cousin in dirt. Soon the hole was filled, and his cousin was in the ground. Someone then shouted, "Sora! Sora! Sora!" Soon everyone was shouting a cheer for him. "SORA! SORA! SORA! SORA! SORA!" _

_Ven shouted along with them, tears falling down once again. His heart felt heavy, and he looked up into the sky as the sun set._

Now, he was back in this place. Sora's family was recovering, however at times, his mother would have an outburst of crying. Sometimes, Namine would wake up in the middle of the night, he heard. She'd often be crying, and saying she wanted Sora.

Vanitas was still quiet about the whole thing, but Ven would often see him staring and holding a photo of him and Sora-where Sora was smiling and he was frowning. There was a Christmas tree in the background.

When he had asked about it, he had replied it was the last photo they had taken together before he died. _If I had known this would be our last photo together, I'd have smiled. _He had said sadly.

Ven sighed. He still sometimes asked on why it had to happen. Sora had been a cheerful person, making others smile and laugh, and he had never done anything wrong. He couldn't really blame the person who had been driving-it had been sleeting real hard, so it would be easy to lose control of the car. He still doesn't know if the driver had died as well, or survived.

'It doesn't matter.' he thought as he reached Sora's grave. 'We'll all have to learn to move on, but...' he read the tombstone.

Sora Cielo

Born June 21st, 1990- Died December 27th, 2012

He'll always be a hero in our hearts.

As he placed the bouquet of flowers on the grave, he said quietly, "Rest in peace, Sora. We love you, and...we miss you." He got up, and walked away as rain began to fall.

_I miss you._

**Yeah...I had to say this, just to get it out. Rafael, I don't know if you're reading this from heaven but, even though a month has passed, it still feels as if yesterday we found out you were gone. We'll always love you, and we'll never forget you, but we'll always miss you. I hope you're happy. **


End file.
